The True Name of the Castration Complex

How Freud circumvented the subject of circumcision

Freud deemed circumcision was a symbolic substitute for castration, the latter being carried out of fathers’ jealousy and cruelty in prehistoric times. He considered that circumcision was a remnant of the fathers’ punishment in primitive societies and that it testified submission to their will.[i] In other words, fathers impose their leading sexual role in the family on their sons by circumcising them because their unconscious minds are imprinted with the fear of castration. Fathers demonstrate power to their new-borns and who the boss in the bed is because they have inherited a fear of being dominated. They use circumcision as a preventive punishment and humiliation because they are born apprehensive, overly jealous and possessive.

Freud admits that the circumcising fathers are sexually frustrated. However, instead of to look for a concrete cause for their frustration he attributes it to past events outside their lifespan and to the cruel nature of sexuality.

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